Among the peculiar British neuroses that can attend even to one’s wardrobe is, I’m loath to admit, a particular example powerful enough to negate a beautiful item instantly: an irrational fear of “fuss.” Elaborate fastenings, close-fitted linings, or anything prefixed with the word statement: No thanks; too fussy.

It is no surprise, then, that spring’s bold single-strand necklaces and architectural trophies did not find their way into my jewelry box. Fall runways from Givenchy to Alexander Wang, though, offered a fresh accessory with enough breezy elegance to convince even a fuss-phobe to experiment—the slinky scarf. “Jewelry does not have to be a necklace or a ring,” chirrups Katie Hillier. The creative director of Marc by Marc Jacobs favors a beautiful twill, knotted casually “like a Japanese BMX kid,” as she puts it.

When a box filled with a bounty of sumptuous silk prints and gleaming metallics arrives at my door in London, my scarf test-drive becomes official. Gulp. They are mere slivers of fuss, I remind myself. I pull out a gilded Pucci number. The allure of the new scarves, it seems, lies in just how you wear them. “Think Anita Pallenberg: Wind several times around the throat with a double knot and short tails,” advises Emilio Pucci creative director Peter Dundas. I loop it as instructed over a baby-pink Chanel shirt and a skinny boyish tuxedo for a Studio Voltaire art fund-raiser. “Nice scarf,” nods the Turner Prize–winner Jeremy Deller, himself no stranger to a rakish kerchief.

For an early-morning breakfast meeting at Chiltern Firehouse, Alexander Wang’s sublime paisley wins, tied neatly in a cravat style. “I was thinking about Boy Scout uniforms,” says Wang; and indeed, the flash of fluorescent piping does my navy cashmere crewneck a good turn. As temperatures drop, I imagine it nudged a little higher at the nape with a utilitarian parka.

I try a more feminine spin at a Moroccan wedding with a “Talitha Getty” dress code. A wisp of scarlet Prada silk becomes a game changer; draped loosely (one end falling forward, one back), it revitalizes a vintage Yves Saint Laurent silk shirtdress and looks both modern and unstudied. It’s a subtle trick, graceful but dramatic—the Pina Bausch of accessories—that will work just as fantastically with the new season’s deep-V sweaters as it will with a gossamer evening gown. Even better: The scarf’s stealth dance into my wardrobe happened almost effortlessly—with no fuss at all.